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A farewell address to the reverend oimeon Cornelius 


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A FAREWELL ADDRESS TO 


THE REVEREND SIMEON CORNELIUS 
PRESIDENT OF THE ARCOT ASSEMBLY, SOUTH INDIA 


Dear Brother: 


TIE representatives of the Reformed Church in America 
/| gathered here today would be strangely lacking in our 
2 (5) | appreciation of a historic event in the annals of our 
(sVrdi) Reformed Church did we fail to give earnest expression 
to the gratitude which your memorable visit and inspiring messages 
call forth from our hearts. Be assured that we bespeak the profound 
feeling of the whole body of our church’s ministry as we bid you 
farewell and Godspeed on your return to your native land. It is 
fitting that in every possible way we should commemorate the first 
official visit ever made by a representative of the South India United 
Church to the Reformed Church, which has been so closely con- 
nected with all its history. We want you to cherish in your heart 
choice memories of our welcome warmly, gratefully and respectfully 
extended to one who has endeared himself to our whole church not 
only because of the great cause which he represents and into which 
so much of the lifeblood and treasure of our church have been poured, 
but who has become a brother beloved because of personal qualities 
which have brought again the assurance of the love of Christ, which 
breaks down every barrier of nationality and race. 

The task you have so nobly undertaken and so courageously and 
graciously accomplished in trying to interpret India and the Arcot 
Assembly to the Reformed Church has been a great one finely ful- 
filled. Practically every quarter of the church save the extreme 
western Classis has been visited; you have spoken in one hundred 
and fifty churches, besides many other union meetings where some- 


[2] 


times a whole Classis was represented. It would be hard to over- 
state the almost heroic nature of such a task. Coming from the 
tropics to encounter the snow and ice of our northern clime; rushed 
about from place to place on our network of railways; plunged into 
the turmoil and confusion of New York, you have held firmly to 
your course. 

We regret deeply that you should have met with untimely acci- 
dents during your visit, but as you return we assure you that the re- 
sult of your labors will mean that in the future there will be a link 
between our church and the work in India, a warm, sympathetic 
bond which would not have been possible had it not been created by 
your living presence here. We feel assured that from these con- 
tacts you will have gained a new conception of the devotion of the 
great body of our church to the task of carrying out the last command 
of our Master, to go and make disciples of all nations, a task greatly 
complicated by difficulties and problems at our own doors which 
we trust our brethren in India will better comprehend because of 
your visit and for which we ask their sympathetic understanding, 
cooperation and unceasing prayer. 

As your ship sets her prow homeward we sincerely trust that in 
addition to her cargo of merchandise or of fellow travellers it will 
carry our offerings of love and good will through you to all our fel- 
“low-workers in Christ of the South India United Church, expressing 
to them the conviction that because of your visit to us we are more 
than ever brothers serving one Cause, one Book, one Lord. 

That your return to India may be a happy one and that you may 
be spared for long years of fruitful service in your homeland is the 
prayer of the Reformed Church in America. 


for Tue Pastors’ AssociaTION 


for Tue Boarp oF Forzticn Misstons 


NEWSYORK MS Sia: C: Wy 
APRIL 26, 1926 


